Nothing can stop Goodgymers on a Sunday morning even injuries to attend a junior parkrun. Despite a bad injury, Alan still made his way to be timekeeper : unstoppable. Chikako was tailwalker with her daughter, Maria was marshal at the top gate, Joanna was handing out tokens to the children and I Steph Ducat was marshal at the bottom gate(had to make sure no one took a shortcut. 53 children completed this Sundays Junior Parkrun including a few new comers.

Maria and Steph Ducat set off in the quite streets of ealing towards Acton Junior Parkrun. Good pace and as they were early they did a section of the route the children were going to run later on. An extra mile done so ended up doing 4.5km instead of the usual 3km. Great chatty run to start the day and all ready to join the other volunteers.

Today's session for HANGOT had a surprisingly good start. There were 10 GoodGymers registered for the task, which was amazing in itself, including Will who made this is first GoodGym session. Welcome 👋🥳! Everyone also made it to HANGOT's secret undercover base on time and without getting lost. Amazing!

Once assembled, they walked to BlackBerry Corner, one of HANGOT's earliest orchards, with 20 apple trees and a long history of brambles, hence the name. As it was coming to the end of the growing season - for fruit and weeds - it was time to tidy up the orchard. Today's priorities were to:

1. Clear a ring around each apple tree to be free of weeds
2. Remove brambles and nettles from the paths
3. For completeness, cut down the open spaces too

The goal was to starve the ground of nutrients year after year to stunt and then eventually stop the weeds from growing back.

Work was divided up between the team with everyone grabbing a tool for their task. Shears, rakes, wheelbarrows, a pitchfork and a slasher were passed around. Working together, they made quick work of the most important jobs around the paths and trees.

At the same time, some of HANGOT's team were scything the open spaces, leaving lots to be raked up and moved to the distant compost heap. Will did a great job of raking throughout the task, which gave him a solid workout at his first session. A few others felt the fatigue in their muscles too by the end from chopping and slashing.

HANGOT were incredibly grateful that the huge GoodGym turnout had helped them complete all of the planned work. Their compost heap had also gone from zero to humongous, which will be really useful next year. There was even time for some to see their first quince tree fruiting and taking a chance on eating what they'd hand picked.

Last minute request to put up posters in the local business of Hanwell near the Clocktower. As last minute listing, I was the only one going to meet Anna who had the posters, but on arrival Maria turned up as was available and signed up at the last minute too. Anna arrived with the posters we were given 2 sized posters : A3 and A4 posters promoting project funding in Hanwell with a meeting next week. She then said, we have 2 posters to put up but needed to go to the local library to collect the other one. We collected the other posters, got cellotape and both Maria and myself Steph Ducat went around the local businesses to ask to put up the posters. Most of them agreed and we walked 3km before finishing the task. We then went for a well earned coffee in a local coffee shop. 2 for 1 volunteers and posters!!!Not a shy task as had to ask and talk our way to getting all the posters up in no time. If you are in Hanwell look around for these posters - you cant miss them!! And Maria is the master of cellotaping!!Roughly 80 posters in the windows of Hanwell.

I was back at Ealing Soup Kitchen this morning where chef Andrew cooked an amazing batch of fish pies. Vegetarian option available as always. I started off cutting up pineapples for food bags then moved on to the tea station. I’m not sure what was in the air today but we got through a lot of teas, coffees, biscuits plus bowls of cereal. It’s always a pleasure for me to be serving refreshments as I get the chance to chat to the clients and see how they are doing.

Anita and Iram dropped in to join Auberon, Dani, and the Cultivate London team to help bring a splash of colour to the green spaces around Ealing Hospital. Anita arrived first, while Iram joined later, so the pair passed each other like ships in the daylight! Cultivate London supplied some very fetching hi-vis jackets and all the tools we needed to get planting.

Cultivate London is a charity that provides horticultural services using sustainable, organic and biodiverse methods. They work with communities, businesses and local government to create and maintain enjoyable and sustainable urban green spaces and give local people the opportunity to learn and engage in food growing. This session was in partnership with London North West Healthcare Charity.

The team introduced us to the “lasagne technique” which involved layering different bulbs in the soil like lasagne sheets. A good deep hole was dug, and layers of tulips and crocuses were stacked between layers of ~~sauce~~ soil before being firmly stomped down to deter the local squirrel population. The squirrels were keeping a watchful eye from the sidelines as they planned their next raid for a tasty treat!

There’s still plenty to do, so we’ll likely be back to lend a hand again soon. It was a brilliant session full of teamwork, fresh air and the promise of a colourful spring around Ealing Hospital.